Revel Performa 3

on Avs forum someone did listen at a dealer side by side the new f208 vrs the studio, and his opinion was the f208 was about 90 percent of a studio 2 for a lot less dough.

FYI, I was with Richidoo on this trip to hear the F208's and I thought Erik was a great host for us. I owned the F30's when the Performa line first came out. I loved the bass and mids but the highs were too harsh for me (~10 years ago, on whatever system it was at the time)... I can't directly compare the F30's to the F208's on memory but I can say overall, they are MUCH more refined sounding.

I agree with Rich's assessment for the most part.. However, I heard a lot of detail in the bass, maybe more than Rich... and I wasn't noticing the port so much. Bass is highly subject to the room. The room we listened in had no intentional acoustic treatment.

As to the highs, I am used to laser precision imaging and spectacular mids with impact from my current speakers (Piega C8 LTD) and I missed some of that with the F208's. However, the Piega's have a flat coaxial ribbon mid and tweeter panel rather than cones and domes. So, a difference in how they sound is expected. They didn't leave out details, just presented it a little more softly than I'm used to.. making them easier to crank up and enjoy even on bad recordings.

I could not get over how hard it was NOT to just enjoy the music with these speakers. They are great to just enjoy the beat and hear the nuances, tune in a little to some detail and get right back into the message of the song.

IF you are genuinely interested in listening to MUSIC, these are a great end destination to your audio journey. That is indeed a big IF. Most audiophiles really do love hearing what our gear can do and experimenting with the sound of it. I feel I have had a nice journey finding the exact sound I like. It just so happens Kevin Voecks has a similar ear and lots of R&D money behind him so I am lucky to have found this speaker. ;)

Hello I personally owned the f52 for 2 years ,there is No way
The F52 is as good as the f208 in any dept ! Please remember these guys spent $ 30 million just building their new audio lab. This new 208 is in the same league as the old $12 k studio. In fact ever Jim V at Revel said so
That is why they had to go to Titanium drivers the new Salon reference line
Their testing does not lie. Why do you think they took the extra year to
Bring these to market,because they wanted everything right the first time.

One thing I found out not advertised is that the 206,is slightly more clean
And open through the top- mid range,reason being is that there are several controls on the bigger 208 which does go down deeper, I have dual subs
So Bass will not be an issue the 208 is good for flexibility if you have a
Room that has sonic issues biwirable, and tone controls for treble and Bass
3 things more in the circuit, although small the 206 is slightly more open and cleanfrom the mid bass on up,but you could only hear if you have a very good switching unit and played back and forth on a bunch of songs
Very small difference . If you don't have separate subs ,I would still buy the 208 without reservation it goes lower and has more slam in the bottom end,will beat anyspeaker out there even at the $7-8 k range.both speakers
Are outstanding the 206 will cleanly do high 38hz range without any problem with tight articulate Bass.

I heard the Revel M 105's at Audio Breakthrough in Manhasset, N.Y. a few weeks and they were very impressive driven by Exposure electronics. The sound and build quality of these speakers would leave one to believe that they cost more than twice their asking price. BTW Audio Breakthroughs is an excellent dealer with many great brands that has been in business for many years and I would highly recommend to people in the NYC metro area.